Won't you wine and dine with me?
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Caroline had always been a hopeless romantic.
She had a stack of DVDs with romance and drama as the genres, she had seen The Notebook so many times she had lost count, she had read like a half of every Nicholas Sparks book (and it was an exception, because Caroline did not read), and she loved cuddles and walks in the park.
So it was very understandable when she cried during her visit to the hospital. Bonnie had just given birth to her and Jeremy's first son. When she walked into the room, Bonnie had the little baby in her arms and Jeremy was looking at them with such love and compassion. It reminded her of all the ending scenes from all the movies she had seen; happily ever after.
Damon, who was standing right behind her, only rolled his eyes. Typical Blondie.
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It was a Sunday morning and they were cuddled up together in front of the TV. She had dragged him out of the bed at seven in the morning, and he thought it was just rude to wake people up before nine o' clock on a Sunday.
"What the hell, Caroline," he had groaned when she made him sit on the couch. He kept huffing and puffing as Caroline set the DVD player but she shushed him.
He peeked to see the DVD cover, and flinched when he saw the title. He wished he had a sharp piece of wood with him. That way he could just stake himself and end his misery.
Mamma Mia!
Yeah. He could hear the song playing in his head already.
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"Isn't that just cute?" she gushed when the wedding scene came on. She dramatically closed her eyes for a second as she rested her head on his chest and snuggled closer to him. She then continued, "Marrying someone you love, having a beautiful wedding..."
"Hmm," he only mumbled sleepily, sounding completely uninterested. Caroline stole a look at Damon, hoping he would at least get what she was trying to say.
Nope. No. He was asleep.
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The next day, Damon was just coming home after spending some time in The Grill, when he heard loud music coming from the kitchen. Caroline had pushed him and Stefan to be good buddies again and even though he was reluctant at first, he had to admit that it was nice having some company while drinking his ass off in the bar.
"Caroline," he called his girlfriend as he made his way to the kitchen. But there was no answer. "Caroline!"
He found her dancing to the music, singing out the lyrics on top of her lungs, with a bowl on her hand and a wooden spoon on the other. He spotted some vegetables scattered on the floor, falling from the bowl when she stirred them recklessly as she danced. He rolled his eyes at her.
"Why the hell are you cooking? You never cook. I'm always the chef and you're the cleaning lady," he scoffed.
She threw a napkin at him, sending a glare his way and turned her back on him, as if she didn't want him to ruin her melody.
"I wanna settle dooown, I wanna settle dooown. Baby there's no need to ruuuun. I looove you weeell…" she sang out right before he left the room.
She finally turned around, and her shoulders slumped when she noticed he was gone again.
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"Blondie, are you done yet?" Damon whined, "I think you've used my credit card in every store at this mall. And I don't think I have enough hands to carry your things."
They were out and about at a mall in Richmond, and Damon had promised her the other day that he would take her shopping. They had been wandering around the mall for almost five hours now, and Damon had had enough. He loved her, he really did, and watching her try one outfit and then another was fun for like thirty minutes (especially the outfits from Victoria Secret), but it got boring after those thirty minutes had passed.
"Don't be a brat, Damon," she chided, waving her hand at him.
Wait, brat? Who exactly is the brat here? She had been spending his money and all he had done was carrying her stuff. Damon swore if it wasn't Caroline—if she wasn't so bright and bubbly and lively and vivacious, he would have snapped.
She stopped walking when they reached a bridal boutique, and she took a moment to stare at the gown in the display window.
"Isn't it pretty?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the dress.
"I thought you have good taste in fashion, Care?" he teased, walking past her, "thought you'd prefer Vera Wang or Carolina Herrera to a cheap white gown made by some unknown designer?"
She sighed angrily, and stomped her feet as she tailed behind him.
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"Damon," she called him one day when they were having their dinner in silence. The two were sitting across each other at the table. She was tapping her feet nervously and she was surprised it hadn't bothered him yet.
"Hmm?" he replied, raising an eyebrow at her.
Caroline swallowed the lump in her throat and took a deep breath. "Where do you see yourself in, say, ten years?" She looked at him expectantly, resting an arm on the table as she waited for his answer impatiently.
He stared at her with a strange look for thirty seconds or so, pursing his lips. "I don't know," he finally replied, shrugging, "Getting a new car, maybe. I love my baby but she's getting old and one day she will have to retire."
It wasn't the answer she wanted to hear and she thought he wasn't taking this seriously. Her shoulders slumped again, and she thought he didn't see it. She bit her lip and looked down, finishing her dinner in a deafening silence.
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Caroline was lying on her stomach in her and Damon's room. As she stared at the ceiling, desperation swam in her eyes.
She had dropped hints for him everywhere, but it seemed like he didn't catch any of them. She sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. She was mentally exhausted. Showing him a wedding scene from a movie, singing Kimbra's Settle Down in front of him, and deliberately taking a stop in front of the bridal boutique didn't work. All the bridal catalogues scattered around the house didn't send him the message either. Or maybe he was too ignorant to notice they were there. And he seemed to be taking her question during dinner as a joke too.
Caroline sighed. She was starting to think he didn't want to be with her as much as she wanted to be with him.
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"So you haven't asked her, huh?" Stefan asked as he took a seat beside Damon at the bar.
Damon smirked and downed the rest of his drink. "Nope."
The younger Salvatore chuckled and shook his head at the other. "You're mean," he retorted, "She just called Elena, crying because she thinks you don't care about her."
"She did?" Damon asked, stupefied. He didn't know she had cried, and he suddenly felt so guilty for being the reason why she did.
"Yeah, Elena was still trying to tell her that it's not true and stuff when I left," Stefan shrugged, "You should do it, soon," he told his brother.
"I will, when the time is right," Damon replied, "Right now it's just so much fun seeing her sweat over it," he smiled when he remembered her frantic behavior lately.
"Just don't wait too long," Stefan advised.
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"Oh, come on, Care, why are you sulking?" Damon asked, throwing a quick glance Caroline's way and then focusing his attention back on the road.
"I am not sulking," she spat, her arms crossed against her chest.
"Okay…" he trailed, "So what's with the long face?"
She didn't reply, instead she looked away from him and stared out of the window. She had a lot going on in her mind lately.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked Damon when she saw that the car was heading into the woods.
He only winked and said, "It's a surprise," for like the tenth time in the last thirty minutes and Caroline was getting more and more agitated.
"And can't you just stop tapping your fingers already?" she snapped, and he complied. He stopped tapping his fingers against the steering wheel and started tapping on the dashboard instead.
Caroline groaned, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. "I mean it as don't tap your fingers against anything!"
Damon stopped the car, and turned to her. "Caroline, you're making a big deal out of nothing," he reminded her. As soon as her jaw clenched and he heard the sharp intake of her breath, he realized he had said the wrong thing.
"Nothing?! You said that this is nothing?" she yelled
He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I was just tapping my—"
"No!" she cut him off fiercely. "Don't you get it? It's not just about you tapping your fingers. There's the big picture here, a bigger problem and it's not nothing, but it seems like you just can't see it!"
"Caroline…" he tried to reason with her.
"No no no," she waved her finger at him, telling him to shut up, "You have to listen to this. Hear me out," she insisted
"But Ca—"
She covered his mouth with her hand, effectively stopping the words from coming out of his mouth.
"We have been together for years, Damon. Ten years, to be exact. And people who have been together for so long usually want something more, something serious—something they can hold onto for the rest of their lives. I wanted to know if you plan on spending eternity with me, because that's what I'm searching for. I want a constant companion, someone I can hold onto for the rest of eternity. But you seem like you don't plan to have an eternity with me. And I might look like I'm eighteen but I'm technically twenty eight, Damon. I—"
"Ca...ro...line..." he tried to talk and stop her ramblings, but his voice sounded more like a muffled sound.
"—I'm just saying we don't necessarily have to be married, but I just want to—"
He had enough and decided to bite her hand.
"Ow! Did you seriously just bite my hand? What are you, five?!" she snapped angrily
"Caroline," he said again, putting his hands on her shoulders, "Just stop talking for a minute, okay? A minute, that's all I need."
"You just bite me and now you're telling me to shut up?"
He hopped off the car and went to get her door too, and she just huffed at him in annoyance, pouting.
"Look," he pointed to something behind her, and she was skeptical at first. She just crossed her arms and refused to listen to him.
He sighed at her stubbornness and turned her around himself. Caroline was about to yell at him again when she saw it.
She gasped, "Damon…" she trailed, turning around to him in disbelief. He only smiled innocently at her.
"Of course I want to spend eternity with you. I mean, you are annoying and extremely loud, but you are my sunshine and I love you. I want to hold your hand when this world comes to an end," he whispered in her ear.
There were probably a thousand of little lanterns hung on the trees, forming the sentence 'Marry me?'. The lights stood out in the darkness, making the writing looked bold and glowing. It was so beautiful, and it was so sweet, that it made Caroline cry.
"Oh God," she whispered breathlessly as she saw him kneeling in front of her. Never once did she think Damon Salvatore would ever kneel before anyone. Not even the King or Queen of a powerful monarch.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. The first thing she noticed was the huge, shiny, and sparkly diamond resting on it. It also had tiny sapphires as the details. It was just so pretty.
"So," Damon said, "Marry me?"
She chuckled, and rolled her eyes. "You should have practiced your line first. You're terrible!" she mocked, "But yes. Yes, of course I will!"
She was jumping up and down by the time he slipped the ring to her finger. "So why were you being such a jerk to me?" she asked.
"I'm sorry. But if I'm being nice to you whenever you drop me a hint, you'd find out about my plan and then it wouldn't be as fun," he told her. She smiled at this, and then wrapped her arms around his neck.
He rested his forehead against hers, their noses touching, and he leaned down to kiss her. She welcomed his lips against hers, and granted him access. They kissed until they were both running out of breath and once they broke apart, both were gasping for air.
"So," Caroline said, still panting, "Want to do it under the stars?" she wiggled her eyebrows seductively.
Damon's lips parted in a smile, and he quickly had pinned her down against the ground.
"Hell yeah."
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Fin.